We are sure that the profession is grateful to RCVS president, Niall Connell, for the letter clarifying the potential changes to the its disciplinary process ( VR , 1 February 2020, vol 186, p 126), and has expressed a collective sigh of relief that no change in the standard of proof for disciplinary hearings is imminent. The news article that the college is actively considering downgrading the standard of proof from the criminal standard to the balance of probabilities ( VR , 18 January 2020, vol 186, p 43) has caused widespread concern and anguish. The RCVS has made a number of excellent improvements to its disciplinary process in recent years particularly with respect to the workings of the disciplinary committee (DC) and has achieved a gold standard for others to emulate. On the negative side, there are still long delays in resolving the 98 per cent of complaints that do not involve …